The Yakama Empowerment Project began when Zixuan (Peter) Fu, then a middle school student in Issaquah started volunteering in Native American communities and learned about the educational gaps many students faced on the Yakama Reservation . Moved to act, he launched this student-led initiative to promote literacy and opportunity through book drives, fundraising, and community outreach. Since 2022, the project has donated over 2,000 books to support mobile libraries across the Yakama Nation and continues to empower youth through education and advocacy.